Federal judge blocks Texas abortion clinic law

A federal judge Friday declared unconstitutional a Texas law that would have closed most of the abortion clinics in the state.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel said a provision requiring the clinics to meet the same building requirements as ambulatory surgical centers would impose “an unconstitutional undue burden on women throughout Texas and must be enjoined.” The requirement, which was to take effect Monday, would have forced at least a dozen clinics to shut down. Fewer than seven facilities would then have remained, with much of the state left without any abortion provider.

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The suit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Texas providers. A spokeswoman for state Attorney General Greg Abbott said he would immediately appeal.

Yeakel said the measure burdens women “in a way incompatible with the principles of personal freedom and privacy protected by the United States Constitution for the 40 years since Roe v. Wade.” He also listed the other restrictions that lawmakers have imposed on abortion in recent years — including a requirement that physicians who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital — and said the state has reached a “tipping point.”

“The court concludes that the act’s ambulatory-surgical-center requirement, combined with the already-in-effect admitting-privileges requirement, creates a brutally effective system of regulation that reduces access to abortion clinics,” the judge wrote.

Nancy Northup, the Center’s president and CEO, responded with equally strong language to the ruling. “This trial and today’s decision have stripped away the pretexts of the politicians who passed this law and revealed their true intention to deny Texas women access to safe, legal abortion care,” she said in a statement.

Yet Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, said the state’s requirements “represent both cutting-edge legislation and common sense. It’s very revealing that rather than ensure women are safe and unharmed in abortion clinics, abortionists and their allies fight for lower standards.”

The law’s admitting-privileges provision was upheld on a federal appeal last year and forced more than half the state’s clinics out of business. The Texas Legislature’s debate on these measures became a national focus last year when Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis, now running for governor, filibustered for 11 hours to block passage.